Recovery and Follow up Appointment

Well, it's already been one month since the surgery! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I am nearly back to normal as far as recovery goes! The internal pain is gone, my strength is back, general movement is much easier, the glue and stitches on my incisions have dissolved, and I am feeling pretty good! The incisions are still a little tender when touched, but it's nothing unbearable at all.

RECOVERY:
Here is a little "back tracking" because I missed a few weeks of posting about the recovery:
I don't remember much of anything about the surgery, coming home, or being home for the first couple of days. Jordan stayed home with me Saturday and Sunday, Carla and Jana stayed with me on Monday, my Mom stayed part of Tuesday, and then I was on my own. My days consisted of me on the couch getting sucked into Downton Abbey. I successfully started and finished 3 seasons within about 4 days and became hooked. Lucky for me, season 4 had just begun, so I caught the first couple of episodes of that online and am now up to date with the regular TV showings. Every couple of episodes, I would try to get up and walk a circle or two around the living room, as the Dr. suggested. One week after surgery came time for one of two annual Market trips for the store. Market (in Dallas this time) is where we purchase all of our merchandise for the store. The Dr. had told me that I could go if I felt like it, but I had to be in a wheelchair the whole time. By that time, I had been taking the pain killers every 6 hours rather than every 3, so I thought I was doing pretty good. I guess I didn't realize that the pain was minimizing only while I was on the couch. I went to Bible class the Wednesday night before Market, and by the time it was over, I was feeling pretty weak. But, I decided to stick with the plans of going to Market. However, that was a bad decision. By the end of the first day (mind you, I rode in the wheelchair 95% of the day), I could barely stand. I had not taken my pain meds every 3 hours and I was miserable. Jordan was just about to hop in the car and drive 4 hours to pick me up. However, once I got in bed, got a heating pad, and lots of pain meds, I thought I could recover. The next day I stayed on top of the meds and the next evening was much easier. So, if at any point you plan to have this surgery, my suggestion is to do NOTHING for at least 10 days following surgery.

Anyway, the next week I started returning to work, partials days at first, and doing jobs that allowed a stationary position. Next thing we know, 4 weeks had passed and we are headed back to Houston for a follow up appointment! The drive seems to be getting shorter each time we go, and we get to stay with my brother and sister in law and see my precious niece, so it is really not bad at all.

FOLLOWUP:
This is how awesome our Dr. is- my appointment was at 8, and we didn't leave until about 9:30. No, she wasn't late and we didn't have to wait- she was actually meeting with us that long! She is so good to never rush us, answer all of our questions, and explain things thoroughly. So, back to the appointment. She is very pleased with how my body is "reacting" to the surgery! So far, it has done exactly what was planned and even a little better. The return of a cycle without any help from medication was very exciting! The incisions are healing well (she has me rubbing Vitamin E oil on them to help with the scarring). We got a little bit of disturbing news from the biopsy/culture samples that were taken from my uterus during surgery, though. The nurse had called about 2 weeks ago to inform me that I had a staph infection, and to let me know they were putting me on antibiotics. She said this is just caused from bacteria not leaving the body and was nothing to be worried about. But, when we got to the follow up appointment, she had some more news. The biopsy showed precancerous cells in my uterus. She is a little concerned about this (and it really scared me, at first), but she said that with the return of the cycle, the body should flush this cells out. She plans to do another biopsy (if we are not pregnant) in 6 months, because she wants to stay on top it. Good news, though, the chances of the cells progressing into "real" cancer are very very low! For those of you who do not know, I have had similar results from biopsies of my cervix over the past 3-4 years, but that issue has "fixed" itself and is no longer a concern. (and is not connected to the issues in the uterus). So, we are confident that there is not much to be concerned about and that the Dr. will stay on top of the issues.

We will go back in 3 months for another follow up! Until then, my instructions are to continue the gluten free/dairy free diet and finish out my long round of antibiotics.

Thanks again for your prayers, concerns, cards, visits, food, etc!